Amidst the many posts circulating on WhatsApp that Ambassador Adamu Saidu Duara was the one that involved the former Head of State General Yakubu Gowon in the ECOWAS peace process to lift the sanctions imposed on Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali, it is important to correct that it was President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who spearheaded the peace process and lifting of sanctions.
It would be recalled that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in his role as the current leader of the ECOWAS had earlier said that the sanctions imposed on Niger should be lifted on humanitarian grounds after discussions with his West African counterparts.
President Tinubu in a bid to lessen the hardship faced by ECOWAS citizens in Niger listened to the wise counsel of former Head of State General Yakubu Gowon.
The decision to seek General Gowon’s counsel followed President Tinubu’s instructions which was reached at a special session of the Peace and Security Committee (MSC) at the Ministerial level held at the ECOWAS headquarters in Abuja, on February 8, 2024, which was agreed that the elders, thought leaders, Scholars, and civil society groups should find ways to mediate on the decision of the three-member countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger to withdraw from ECOWAS.
The Chairman of MSC and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar at the meeting stated that the meeting was very important in finding ways to solve the problems faced.
As it is, it is not true that Adamu Saidu Daura intervened and this is unfair to President Tinubu and all those who worked hard to see that the elder Statesman former President General Yakubu Gowon wrote an open letter to the leaders of ECOWAS.
It is important to give President Tinubu the credit he deserves and not some unknown person who is trying to reap where he did not sow.
It is important to say the post circulating on WhatsApp social media that seeks to deceive the public that an Ambassador, Adamu Saidu Daura, involved General Gowon in the ECOWAS is a total fallacy with no iota of truth in it.
